


Canada’s Boyfriend and his Boyfriends

by bestliars, stellarer



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 12:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/861788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestliars/pseuds/bestliars, https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarer/pseuds/stellarer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jordan Eberle’s life is just a little bit complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Canada’s Boyfriend and his Boyfriends

**Author's Note:**

> I thought, wow, I would like there to be a story called "Canada's Boyfriend and His Boyfriends" about how Ebs has all these expectations to be the Captain of the Future, and clutch goal scorer, and all around good Canadian boy, and sometimes it's overwhelming, because he's just a guy, and he's pretty young, and he can't spell, and he's trying to figure his life out. Then Stellarer and I wrote it, because sometimes that happens.
> 
> We started writing this in chat, I made it into solid prose, Stellarer betaed and made it into a story that actually works. This is set during the lockout, because that’s when we started writing it. (finishing things is hard.)

Jordan knows what the world thinks of him. He’s “Canada’s Boyfriend.” He’s a clutch scorer. He’s the future captain. He’s been deified by the Regina Pats. He’s the best Canadian World Juniors player of all time. He isn’t sure if he deserves all these accolades, but all he can really do is try to take the compliments with humility and grace.

It’s a little bit exhausting, trying to live up to everyone’s expectations. He tries. He wants to play hockey and impress the world, but that isn’t all there is in his life. Sometimes he wishes that people didn’t care as much as they seem to, because then he would only have to worry about what was best for him, not what everyone else will wind up making of it.

If he wasn’t worried about the media attention he might even come out, maybe. If people cared less this could be one less thing to worry about. He doesn’t want to be a spokesperson, but he doesn’t like keeping secrets.

What he wants to do is live his life in relative peace. Really, he would be fine with people knowing that he isn't straight if he thought they wouldn't make it into a huge deal. He can see the benefits of being out. If there had been an out NHL player, or really, anyone out in any of the major sports, his adolescence would have been a whole lot better. He doesn't want to get involved in the hullabaloo coming out would create. Even if he did think he could handle the press, he really isn't in an ideal situation to come out right now.

And he really, really doesn't want to drag anyone else into this. Even if he doesn't say anything about seeing someone, well...the world already knows about the ice cream dates. They'd catch on to him and Taylor being _him and Taylor_ pretty quick.

Though really, people knowing that he's dating Taylor wouldn't change much about how they act in public. They aren't exactly discreet. Being in the closet stops them from kissing and holding hands in public (most of the time), but they've never attempted to hide their mutual weirdness. Jordan doesn't know how that would work. They were this weird about each other well before they started dating.

The way his life is entangled with Taylor’s isn’t even the main issue. It's part of the larger problem that has emerged, which is whatever's going on between the two of them and Ryan. Jordan could claim that he hadn't noticed the way Ryan will rest his hands on Taylor's shoulders, or Taylor's wide grins in response. He could pretend to be oblivious to the way he looks at Ryan sometimes, and the way Ryan will look right back, steadily and openly and expectantly.

He can't ignore how, without really discussing it, he and Taylor have made space for Ryan. He's become a frequent addition to their meals and video games and movie nights and grocery runs. The time that Jordan and Taylor spend together as a couple has given away to time with the three of them.

He knows where this may be going, but he's not sure if they'll make it there. He hopes they find a way to make it work.

The three of them could be great together. He's sure of this, he can feel it in his gut when they're on a line together, and when they're just hanging out. The three of them could be _fantastic_ together, if they get their heads together and decide that's what they want.

The thing is that being the-three-of-them would make things about a thousand times more complicated. It would be worth it, and the complications aren't enough to scare him away, but they're worth noting. If he comes out it's a big deal. If he comes out with Taylor it's a very big deal. Gay NHL Romance would make a great tabloid headline. But Gay NHL Threesome? The press wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

Being gay is almost normal. It still matters, but Canada has had gay marriage for more than a decade. There are gay people on TV and in elected offices. Not enough, but they exist; people know what to do with gayness, more or less.

The world doesn't get polyamory, like, at all, which is understandable. Jordan didn’t either, not until he started to think about Ryan, and Taylor-and-Ryan, and the three of them, and what that might mean. He was overwhelmed just thinking about it so he and decided to look into what other people have done. 

He found out that polyamory is a thing that people do, that it works for people, that it makes people happy, and he thinks it could make them happy too. Everything he read made him realize that what he wanted wasn’t impossible, but something he could have if they all put the effort in.

Only most people haven't done the reading. And that's really sad, because even if the world might be ready for Jordan to come out as gay, it certainly isn't ready for him to have two boyfriends.

This sucks, because Jordan is almost ready to have two boyfriends.

Not quite, but they're getting there. It won’t be that long before they talk about it with Ryan. They’ve already talked about it as a couple, exploring what it would mean to invite another person into their life and into their bed, which had been a fun topic to explore. Now they’re on the same page about what they want, and are just waiting for the right moment to share their proposition with Ryan. Jordan is going to let Taylor bring it up, because Taylor isn't great at surprise feelings. If Taylor has the time to prepare himself for the talk things should go well, but if he's suddenly thrust into it things probably won't work as smoothly. Jordan can be patient. He knows that Ryan isn't going to initiate anything.

Until then Jordan is going to do his best to appreciate life in Oklahoma City. Jordan has been enjoying the weather and the company. The guys are all awesome. Schultzy is a great addition to the team, and Colten is still his best friend (because Taylor is his boyfriend, and Ryan is, well, Ryan). It sucks that Taylor is still in Edmonton, but that won’t last long, and Jordan has plenty of distractions. The whole team sticks together, but Jordan finds himself spending a lot of time with just Ryan.

He likes spending time alone with Ryan. Ryan is calm, Ryan doesn’t need anything from him, Ryan is awesome, Ryan is very attractive.

When Taylor is cleared to play, they’re all together again, and it’s great. The three of them are doing great things on the ice, and quickly falling into a comfortable routine off of it.

It kind of makes sense that the thing between the three of them finally comes together in Oklahoma City. People don’t care about them very much in OKC. They have a lot more freedom to do what they want without worrying about someone recognizing them. 

The three of them are hanging out in the evening, special linemate bonding without anyone else. As the night wears on Taylor gets a bit tipsy, which makes him determined and uninhibited. Ryan smiles at them, with his dimples and general adorableness, and Taylor asks, “Do you like us?”

Ryan freezes, but Taylor isn’t waiting for an answer. “Because we like you. We think you’re cute. We think you should go out with the two of us. Then we would be the three of us, and that would be great. Do you want to go out with us?”

“Um.” Ryan turns to Jordan, hoping for a better explanation, which isn’t exactly what he gets.

“We’ve talked about it, and we think you should go out with us,” Jordan says. “We know it’s kind of weird, but it would be good too! More good than weird!”

“So, the three of us would be, like...?” Ryan is looking for clarification.

“Dating,” Jordan clarifies. “We’d be dating, because we like you a lot, and we’re pretty sure you like us too.”

“So we should all be boyfriends,” Taylor adds enthusiastically, like he needs Ryan to know how awesome of an idea this is. “We would all be boyfriends, and we can hang out just like now, but it would be better, because we would all have sex, and because you wouldn’t have to go home at the end of the evening, unless you wanted to, but I don’t know why you’d want to.”

This is only just on the right side of crazy — persuasive but not scary. Jordan’s pretty sure it’s going to work for them, even though Taylor does sound kind of intense.

“We’re really great boyfriends,” Taylor says. “You should totally date us.”

“Um, I guess that would nice, yeah?” Ryan says.

“Yeah, it would be _awesome_ ,” Taylor says, grinning. “I’m gonna kiss you now, okay?”

“Okay,” Ryan says. Everything is going just the way Jordan had hoped it would. 

Then Taylor kisses Ryan. Jordan knows how Taylor kisses: enthusiastically, without restraint, wet and desperate. It’s new to see how Ryan kisses back: poised, subtle, knowing. For the moment Jordan is content to sit and watch his boyfriends kiss. In a minute he’s going to want to do more, to be in the middle of it; he’ll have to kiss them back, in a minute, but for now he’s happy watching.

He’s happy with his life. It’s true that it isn’t always easy to have a public image and private desires, but he couldn’t give any of it up. There’s a balancing act necessary that lets him be everything people think he is, and all of the things they don’t know too. It’s complicated, and he has to be careful, but it’s worth it, because it means he can have _boyfriends_ , and he’s pretty sure he loves them.


End file.
